The company is forecasting sales of its air-conditioners, microwave ovens, washing machines, rice cookers, refrigerators and a host of home appliances to hit more than P1 billion this year, up from P584 million in 2016, said Raul Joseph Concepcion, chair and chief executive officer of CIC.
“The long-term prospects of the Philippine economy are very attractive. The level of income is growing and our industry is expanding by double digits,” Concepcion said at a news conference during the launch of Midea’s next-generation air-conditioning VRF system called Midea V-6 held recently at the Shangri-La at the Fort.

Since CMI was formed three years ago, the company’s product line has grown tremendously, complemented by the expansion of its sales network through out the country. It currently has 150-200 SKU products for households and businesses that are available in more than 400 retail outlets nationwide.
“When we formed the partnership with Midea in late 2013, we were traditionally involved in air-conditioning, laundry, refrigerators,” Concepcion said.

“Now, we have the most comprehensive air-conditioning not only for the consumers but also for SMEs as well as large businesses. We also have the very comprehensive line up of laundry, washers, dryers, kitchen and other appliances such as gas ranges, refrigerators. These are all in line with our overall mission – to be the largest consumer appliance company in the Philippines, as well as the most trusted building and industrial solutions partner,” Concepcion added.

Along with remittances from Filipinos working and living overseas, income from BPOs, the government’s plan to build multi-billion peso worth of infrastructure facilities through the administration’s “Golden Age of Infrastructure” program will also ensure that the economy will remain robust over the next several years, Concepcion said.

“You have people now with money. When people have money, they start spending. Then you have services and construction that are also growing. You still have the BPO, overseas remittances and you have construction. You have a lot of construction going on that’s driving development. When the government puts the infrastructure program, then money will come in. Those are the key drivers of growth with huge potential,” said Concepcion.

CMI expects to boost its market share in the competitive appliance industry to reach between 5 to 10 percent in 2020.

For his part, Ken Liang, director for Asia-Pacific of Midea Commercial Air Conditioner Division, said the Philippine market will help the Chinese company to further boost its sales from the region. He said the share of revenues from overseas to Midea’s overall revenue has been rising and reached 50 percent in 2016 versus 43 percent in 2015.

“The Philippines is one of the biggest potential markets not only in Asia but also in the world with GDP growing at 6-7 percent,” Liang said at the same press briefing.

Born in October 20, 1989 and a graduate of BSIE, JL Aquino started blogging in Blogspot back in 2007. He loves taking photos, trying out new things, eating and travelling. He has been to 6 countries and visited 28 out of 81 province in the Philippines. He's on Instagram too, follow him at @JayL_Aquino